The IDF released footage on Saturday showing a Hamas tunnel network discovered beneath the European Hospital compound in Khan Yunis, Gaza.
According to the IDF, the tunnel served as a command-and-control center for senior Hamas operatives. The footage, distributed by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, shows a complex underground infrastructure with multiple rooms that housed weapons, intelligence materials, and operational equipment.
The tunnel was located directly beneath one of Gaza’s largest hospitals, the IDF said, and was used by Hamas’s military wing to coordinate attacks on Israeli forces.
The footage was obtained during an operation carried out by the IDF’s 36th Division, guided by the Intelligence Directorate and involving troops from the Golani Brigade, the Yahalom Unit, and special forces. During the searches, troops also discovered the bodies of several Hamas operatives in the tunnel. The identities of those killed are still under review.
“This tunnel system beneath the European Hospital highlights Hamas’s ongoing use of civilian infrastructure for terrorist purposes,” the IDF said in a statement. “Hamas cynically exploits hospitals to shield its military operations, putting civilians and medical staff at risk.”
Hamas’s use of hospital tunnels puts civilians at risk, IDF says
Hamas has a history of embedding its command posts and weapons stores within or beneath hospitals, schools, and residential buildings. The use of the European Hospital’s underground areas as a Hamas command center, the IDF said, is further evidence of the group’s strategy of using civilian areas as shields.
The IDF said it remains committed to exposing and dismantling Hamas’s underground network in Gaza, which it says is used to smuggle weapons, store munitions, and plan attacks.
The newly released footage aims to illustrate the challenges faced by Israeli forces operating in densely populated areas. The IDF said additional details from the operation would be released as they become available.